Alligator gar are touted as the latest remedy for Asian carp, but that's unreasonable.
The alligator gar, which was once common in Arkansas, is the second-largest freshwater fish in North America. Only the white sturgeon of the Pacific Northwest grows bigger. Asian carp have overtaken many lakes and rivers in the Mississippi River drainage area.
A recent Associated Press article noted that alligator gar is the only natural predator able to eat big Asian carp. Some states are stocking alligator gar for this purpose, but their actual effectiveness at controlling carp is unknown.
Asian carp are a big problem in southeast Arkansas, but Ben Batten, assistant chief of fisheries for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, doesn't believe that the alligator gar is a solution. Batten has nothing against alligator gar. It's a matter of basic population dynamics.
The alligator gar is a slow-growing fish that does not eat large quantities, Batten said. One big carp will tide over a big gator gar for days. The bigger it gets, the more a gar relies on energy conservation. Like a big bass or a big trout, its health depends getting the biggest meal for the least effort.
Asian carp, on the other hand, are extremely prolific. It would require a commensurate overpopulation of alligator gar to eat enough Asian carp to matter.
The article correctly noted that loss of spawning habitat and unregulated fishing dramatically reduced alligator gar numbers.
Also, an alligator gar takes many years to reach reproductive age. Stocking is the only way to supply an adequate number of alligator gar to eat a significant number of carp, but that can only be done in certain situations. You can put them here or there, but it is not possible to restore an alligator gar fishery to an entire system.
Another obstacle is that alligator gar are desirable as sport fish when they reach reproductive age. Until the 1950s, anglers came to Arkansas from all over the world to fish for giant alligator gar in the Arkansas, White, Cache, St. Francis and L'Anguille rivers.
I listed those rivers in that order for a reason. Anglers targeted and killed the biggest gar in those rivers. One by one, they fished out the Arkansas, then the White, the Cache, St. Francis and the smaller rivers until they depleted the spawning stocks.
Damming and channelizing the main rivers and isolating the backwaters did the rest.
If giant gator gar ever become common again, the states will have to strictly regulate their harvest to prevent overfishing, regardless of their impact on carp.
Which leads to the next obstacle. Crappie and bass anglers believe that longnose and spotted gar damage sportfish populations. They are smaller than gator gar, but when you see a lot of them on days when bass and crappie won't bite, it's natural to make a connection, whether it's justified or not.
Adding another big predator that sportfishermen don't like will spawn resentment, not gratitude, even if the gator gar do knock back the carp.
Still, some folks are enamored with the thought of restoring an apex predator as a "green" solution to an human-induced ecological problem. That's why some advocate reintroducing wolves to control whitetailed deer and thus thwart the spread of chronic wasting disease.
Again, it's a matter of basic population dynamics. The AGFC says we have about 1 million deer in Arkansas. Hunters legally kill about 200,000 a year. Poachers are said to kill another 10-20 percent annually. Add losses to vehicle collisions, for which Arkansas ranks very high, and factor in losses to disease and predation to predators like coyotes and bobcats, and the toll is a lot higher.
Assuming we want additional deer killed, would wolves contribute significantly, and at what cost? How many wolves would it take to achieve a goal that hasn't been established?
Market hunting and unregulated subsistence nearly exterminated our state's deer, bear and turkey resources. Unregulated commercial fishing did the same to our fin and shell fisheries.
That's the key to eliminating invasive carp. The world has an insatiable appetite for wild-caught fish. Create a lucrative market for Asian carp, and they'll be gone.
Sports on 08/14/2016